This proposal requests funding for an initiative at the Chemistry/Biology Interface (CBI). This program was started at UMBC in 1998 to provide an opportunity for chemistry students to become conversant in the biological sciences and students in the biological sciences to become familiar with chemistry. To date, eleven highly qualified students have been recruited to this program, and all of these students are performing very well. Students in the UMBC CBI program will be registered in either the Ph.D. program in chemistry (CHEM), the joint biochemistry Ph.D. program (BIOC) with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) or the Ph.D. program in Molecular and Cell Biology (MOCB). Dissertation mentors for these students can come from three UMBC departments (Chemistry & Biochemistry, Biological Sciences or Chemical & Biochemical Engineering) and one department at UMB (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology). Cross-disciplinary training will be ensured by having each student (1) complete a rotation in both a biologically-oriented laboratory and a chemically-oriented laboratory; (2) take an advanced course in both disciplines; (3) enroll in a yearly course entitled "Issues at the Chemistry/Biology Interface;" (4) participate in an annual CBI Workshop; and (5) attend seminars and meetings with a focus on interdisciplinary work at the CBI. Research interests of the participating faculty span a wide variety of areas from photochemistry, through bioanalytical chemistry, synthetic chemistry and enzymology to structural biology, cell biology and immunology. Research areas of current students in the program are: The Role of Ribosomal Proteins S3, S4, and S5 in Translation; Characterization of Small Heat Shock Protein Hsp 17.7 via Molecular Biology and Mass Spectrometry Analysis; Separation and Detection of Varying Nucleic Acid Conformations and Sequences; Applications of Time-Resolved Linear Dichroism Spectroscopy; Activation Enthalpies and Entropies for Isomerization of 5-Androstene-3,17-dione by 3-Oxo-?5-steroid Isomerase; Characterization of Protein-RNA Complexes within the HIV-1 ?-Site by High Resolution FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry; Advanced Applications of In Vitro Microdialysis for Bioactive Thiocompounds; Mechanisms of MHC class II peptide loading in endogenous tumor antigen presentation; NMR Studies of HIV-2 Genome Recognition. Regular meetings of the trainees will ensure that they are exposed to a wide variety of topics at the CBI. [unreadable] [unreadable]